The Texas House is in chaos. Speaker Straus, who holds his position because he has a base of 55 Democrats, has lost control of the House. He has not been able to contain the conservative Republican Texas Freedom Caucus nor the Marxist pro-perversion Democrats. The 95 Republicans who have enabled him to hold the speaker position for the past 5 legislative sessions have now lost what little confidence they had in him to begin with. Most bills that have been passed by the Texas House have been sponsored by the Democrats. The 95 Republicans are bewildered. Straus has given half of the committee chairmanships to Democrats and has allowed their Marxist, pro-perversion legislation to have committee hearings and to reach the House floor for a vote. Meanwhile, conservative legislation passed by the Texas Senate sits idly by with no committee hearings.

Many Republican state representatives have supported the Straus/Cook leadership team in order to gain positions of prominence through committee appointments and to receive campaign donations from Straus. The Straus/Cook leadership has failed miserably to adopt the positions of the Texas Republican Party Platform. These Republican representatives now see clearly that they are on a sinking ship and are going to be held accountable in the Republican primary elections by their constituents in March of 2018.

These Republicans can redeem themselves by removing Straus from the Speaker position by making a privileged motion to “vacate the chair.” This motion would require immediate action by the House.

I am not going to tell you that the Republican state representatives should have elected an arch conservative as Speaker of the Texas House. You will have to decide that for yourself. Republican state representatives outnumber the Marxist, pro-perversion Democrats by a margin of 95-55.

Historically in Texas, the House has been the conservative body and the Senate has been liberal. That has changed over the past 4 years in the Senate under the leadership of arch conservative Christian, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and with the election of many conservative Christian Republican state senators. The Texas Senate has passed over 30 conservative pieces of legislation and sent them to the Texas House for its concurrence. Few have even seen the light of day under Straus’ leadership, and under the leadership of his puppeteer, Rep. Byron Cook, chairman of the powerful House State Affairs Committee.

Senate Bill 6 (SB 6), the Women’s Privacy Act, “No Men in Women’s Bathrooms!”, was passed overwhelmingly by the Texas Senate on March 14 by a 21-10 margin and sent to the House for its approval. Speaker Straus has blocked this bill, despite his promise to the contrary, and has never even sent it to a committee for a hearing, which is required before it could be voted upon by the Texas House. Straus has denied the people’s duly elected representatives a chance to debate and vote on SB 6. This was Lt. Gov. Patrick’s #1 legislative priority. The Republican state representatives should be demanding that this be voted on by the Texas House. Straus and Cook hold SB 6 hostage.

84% of Republican primary voters support SB 6, “No Men in Women’s Bathrooms.”

If the Republican legislators continue to follow Straus’ position to block SB 6, then they will have to face the ire of their constituents in next year’s primary elections. Straus is going to lead a lot of Republican legislators to defeat.

This is why a motion needs to be made to “vacate the chair,” removing Straus from his speaker role and electing a speaker who will allow the Texas House to vote on SB 6.

Sen. Paul Bettencourt’s Senate Bill 2 (SB 2), the Property Tax Reduction Bill, that passed the Texas Senate by an 18-12 vote margin, would require an election to be held if real property taxes rose 5 percent or more than the amount that any governmental taxing authority took in during the previous year. The reason that property taxes continue to rise is because of increases in appraised values of property. Under SB 2, taxing authorities would have to lower the tax rate to keep tax increases below 5% or else there would be a required election held for voter approval.

SB 2 would slow the increases in property tax bills that homeowners and businesses must pay every year. Homeowners have had property tax increases of 10% or more annually. Business owners of commercial rates have had much steeper tax hikes. The property taxes on my 20,000-sq. ft. Hotze Health & Wellness Center building in Harris County increased by 85% last year. This is unconscionable. With increasing appraised values of property, taxing authorities can claim that they did not raise taxes because the taxes are based on the appraised value of your property. They still get increased tax revenues and can blame the increases on the increased appraised value of your property. Guess who gets appointed to your local appraisal boards by the taxing authorities? Employees of the various government taxing authorities. There is no way you can win in this situation.

The Texas House refused to pass SB 2 as passed by the Texas Senate, instead it was severely weakened. Lt. Gov. Patrick has asked Gov. Abbott to add Property Tax Reduction to the call for a Special Session.

Under the Straus/Cook Leadership, the House passed a budget that raids the Rainy Day Fund. Patrick and the senate oppose this.

The Texas House Republicans can avert a Special Session by removing Straus from his position as speaker and electing a Speaker who will let them pass SB 6, SB 2 and save the Rainy Day Fund.

Call your Republican state representative today at http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/. Tell him to remove Straus from the speaker chair and to let the House vote on SB 6, the Women’s Privacy Act, “No Men in Women’s Bathrooms!”

All that it takes for evil triumph is for you to do nothing.

“Through God we shall do valiantly, and it is He who tread down your adversary.” (Psalm 108:13)